Rock On : Reviewed

Our cinema is showing signs of maturity. It is showing courage and even a mental willingness to move and flirt with the Z Axis.

In the attic of every life worth its while are some strained chords, some dusty dreams, tattered trysts, some mute memories and some scary reminders.

Juxtapositioned in the e-age is the spirit and emotions of a people touched but not swept away by it. In a way the central character had to be a tech yuppie.

In the context of contemporary morality (sic,sic) he is the fulcrum and arguably the globe revolves round him, while rotating around itself.

Aspirations, achievements, arrivals, acceptance, is all about success in its visible format. It is a slide show .

The world perceives the visible manifestations and hardly has the time to look beyond or traverse the within.The film show cases a superb whiff of male bonding and tells the life of four young musicians – their agonies and their ecstasy.

It is often believed that the creative artist is at logger heads or at least mal adjusted to the societal norms. They tune to a different flutist, follow a different drummer.

The four man team starts off where the Dil Chahata Hai team said good bye. They are together with a few girls to match as they share a common passion for music and have a small rock band of their own called Magik.

There is Rob Nancy (Luke Kenny) playing the board; Kedar (Purab Kohli) appropriately nick named Killer Drummer , the guitarist Joe Mascarendhas (Arjun Rampal) and the main singer Aditya Shroff( Farhaan Akthar).

They all share the vigour and passion for the band and for music. They are at the threshold of making it big when things crack up and all drift into the mundane world and make a living – while Rob works for Annu Malik ( a cameo), Kedar is selling jewellery in his fathers business; Aditya is a rapidly growing yuppie too involved in work and with no time for anything or any body else.

Then there is Joe the unsuccessful musician who is taking a few music classes and living with his wife Debbie (Sahana Goswami) who too has seen her dreams go sour- wanting to be a fashion designer and ending up running the family fish business and more importantly trying to make both ends meet.

It is Aditya’s wife Sakshi (Prachi Desai) who discerns that something is amiss and life is not all that is visible . Her probe gets her to the hidden musical side of her husband and his drift.

She also sees that he is carrying the guilt of the past with him and does not want to catch up with his past. When she manages a reunion of sorts of the rock band the move boomerangs and she decides to call it quits.

The members of the band however slowly re bond and with memories recreated realize that they have not lost their common dream.

Very dramatic and filmi- one may say. However this time it is inspirational.

It has a huge energy and contagious buoyancy. Caught in the present day urban milieu, they are willing to take a dig at themselves when raw emotions get high.

The script could have been a trifle clearer. Yet it treats each character with so much life and space that each has a space of his/her own.

Here too, as in life, no member of a group takes a larger than life slice, but is part of the being. Like the team in Rang De Basanti or the more recent Jane Tu, the text book "hero" shares equal space with the rest and is not the cut above the rest.

Not just the script but even the music contributes largely to the life of the film. Shanker Ehsan Roy obviously understand the nuance of the genre and give it their all. The finale is a fine depicting of rock music (at lest as I see it as one who knows literally nothing about it).

Technically if there be a fault it is perhaps with the camera work of Jason West- needlessly dark.

Abhishek Kapoor sure shows promise. Of course there are times you wonder whether the man who made Dil Chahta Hai was calling the shots.

The performances are all top class. Luke Kenny is good. Purab Kohli is lively. Prachi Desai adequate. Farhaan Akthar is good and promising.

There are moments when there is a disconnect between his dialogue delivery and his emotions- early days . The pick is Arjun Rampal among the guys. His brooding silence and his image contribute to sincerity of the narration.

Watch the film for his performance and for the wonderful presence and execution by Sakshi Goswami. She is simply too good.

Rock On is about forgotten dreams and the strength to rebuild. Watch it to renew your dreams and hopes. Rock On is rocking.